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Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

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Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#81

Post by croutonwagon »

rnk wrote: post #67
treesknees wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're asking for just doesn't exist yet. The marketing teams at these companies are clearly doing a great job selling these vehicles as reliable simple alternatives to ICE-powered, but that's just not the case. Ignoring all of the supply-chain issues from the pandemic lockdowns (shipping, chip shortages, labor shortages, etc.) you're still purchasing new technology that will take years to iron out the quality p…

I'll agree with that. Yet I alsonever want to buy anything from an enforced middleman again. First I avoided that with Tesla, and now I did it with Rivian. It does have some bugs, so did my last car I bought 20 years ago form a major manufacturer.

The enforced middle man gives you a place to hold accountable or to physically complain to. And provides local jobs. Not to mention the infrastructure to handle things like recalls.

People complain about Tesla service but actively want MORE faceless corps not held accountable to sell them things. It makes no sense.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#83

Post by olivermarks »

recursive wrote: post #80
olivermarks wrote: post #36

Right now automotive UI's and sw are in the equivalent of pre iphone era mobile phone jankyness, just good at one or two things with a ton of cruft that doesn't work well. We all know BEVs are fast - even a 1960's UK electric milkfloat is amazingly speedy from standstill - but I'd say Ford are years away from their BEVs being viable and reliable, not least due to lack of charging network. The lousy towing performance…

Anecdotal, but I just drove my electric Ford from Sacramento to Seattle and back without any particular planning or problems. Just used the built-in nav to find chargers.

truck or car? loaded or empty?

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#84

Post by walrus01 »

andrewla wrote: post #14

Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one. Absolutely nothing works right and certainly nothing works well. It may or may not be able to connect bluetooth, it may or may not acknowledge a USB device, it may or may not start blaring whatever FM station was last tuned in for no reason on startup, or start playing the first album…

> Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one.

well it certainly is reassuring to know that not much has changed at all since my boomer-generation older relatives warned me away from ever buying a north american made car, instead recommending honda/toyota/mazda/nissan sedans, 30 years ago.

what is old is new again.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#85

Post by NobodyNada »

rmatt2000 wrote: post #46
andrewla wrote: post #14

Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one. Absolutely nothing works right and certainly nothing works well. It may or may not be able to connect bluetooth, it may or may not acknowledge a USB device, it may or may not start blaring whatever FM station was last tuned in for no reason on startup, or start playing the first album…

I used to own a Ford Fusion with an early version of Sync. The car itself was great. The Sync software by Microsoft, however, was not. One of the innumerable bugs was in the voice recognition system. No matter what song I requested, about half the time it played "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John. I was demonstrating this bug to a friend who asked "What happens when you request Tiny Dancer?" Sure enough, it played something…

I bought a Focus with Sync 1 last year, and it was infuriating. The most infuriating part was that every time the car starts it defaulted to aux in mode, and there’s no button on the panel to switch to Bluetooth — if I wanted to listen to music from my phone, it took about 8 or 9 button presses to navigate through three levels of nested menus to get to the “media source” option. Every time I got in the car.

I finally ripped the thing out and replaced it with a cheap Chinese CarPlay head unit that I got on clearance because it shipped with defective software (there was a firmware update available to fix it). I could not be happier with it.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#86

Post by twblalock »

PaulWaldman wrote: post #50
andrewla wrote: post #14

Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one. Absolutely nothing works right and certainly nothing works well. It may or may not be able to connect bluetooth, it may or may not acknowledge a USB device, it may or may not start blaring whatever FM station was last tuned in for no reason on startup, or start playing the first album…

>Mazda is apparently taking the right approach here -- increasing the tactile buttons on the dash and console, and ditching touchscreens. Huh? After using both Ford's (2022 Explorer) and Mazda's (2022 CX-7) infotainment systems recently for several weeks, I couldn't disagree more. Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces were designed for touchscreen control. Mazda forcing the use of a wheel, like a joystick is a safety h…

> What good is tactile feedback when you have no idea what you're adjusting without staring at the screen?

This is what people don't understand about touchscreen vs dial-based UIs. One is not safer than the other if they both require you to take your eyes off the road and look at a screen!

If car makers want to have a button control a feature, then they should simply make a button that controls that feature. Cars worked that way for many years. Buttons, dials, or trackpads that move a cursor or select items on a screen are slower than touch-based UIs, require at least as much driver attention, and are less ergonomic than just putting your finger on the exact item you want.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#87

Post by davidw »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #58
7952 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Just look at the appalling forward blind spot on a lot of trucks and SUVs. Or the way cars have become taller at the expense of aerodynamics.

People like sitting higher up, or do not like being seated lower, or so much lower, than others. It might also be safer to be in a higher up car in the event of a collision. Pretty much all the families I know with young kids and toddlers has a full size SUV. Every time I ask why they did not get a minivan such as Odyssey or Sienna, every response is they like SUVs and do not want to sit lower in the minivan. Even th…

This "arms race" is piling up stacks and stacks of bodies.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#88

Post by elzbardico »

PaulWaldman wrote: post #50
andrewla wrote: post #14

Generally speaking the horrifying quality of Ford's electronics have been enough to keep me away from even considering purchasing one. Absolutely nothing works right and certainly nothing works well. It may or may not be able to connect bluetooth, it may or may not acknowledge a USB device, it may or may not start blaring whatever FM station was last tuned in for no reason on startup, or start playing the first album…

>Mazda is apparently taking the right approach here -- increasing the tactile buttons on the dash and console, and ditching touchscreens. Huh? After using both Ford's (2022 Explorer) and Mazda's (2022 CX-7) infotainment systems recently for several weeks, I couldn't disagree more. Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces were designed for touchscreen control. Mazda forcing the use of a wheel, like a joystick is a safety h…

I refuse to believe an UX professional or even a programmer ever thought this could be a good idea. It must have been pushed down the throats of the designers and developers by an edict from some point-haired MBA.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#89

Post by matwood »

cpwright wrote: post #49
olivermarks wrote: post #36

Right now automotive UI's and sw are in the equivalent of pre iphone era mobile phone jankyness, just good at one or two things with a ton of cruft that doesn't work well. We all know BEVs are fast - even a 1960's UK electric milkfloat is amazingly speedy from standstill - but I'd say Ford are years away from their BEVs being viable and reliable, not least due to lack of charging network. The lousy towing performance…

The lousy towing performance probably doesn't matter. 75% of truck owners tow one time a year or less. I've had my F-150 for 8 years 45,000 miles, and it's seen a trailer 3 times for a total of less than 400 miles. I'm close to being in the market for a new truck, and the biggest deal breaker for me with the lightning is the 5.5' box instead of the 6.5' box. Weighing over 6,000 lbs also means you can't register it as…

I want my next truck to be an EV, but towing does matter to me. I hope by the time I replace my 2007 Tundra there will be an EV truck that does tow well. I just broke 130k miles, and easily have another 100k, so I have some time.

Re: Ford F-150 Lightning: Fast Truck, Slow Computer

#90

Post by izacus »

andrewla wrote: post #76
PaulWaldman wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mazda is apparently taking the right approach here -- increasing the tactile buttons on the dash and console, and ditching touchscreens. Huh? After using both Ford's (2022 Explorer) and Mazda's (2022 CX-7) infotainment systems recently for several weeks, I couldn't disagree more. Android Auto and CarPlay interfaces were designed for touchscreen control. Mazda forcing the use of a wheel, like a joystick is a safety h…

Wow, that sounds intensely bad! I haven't actually driven a Mazda, I just heard that they were getting rid of touchscreens and it honestly didn't occur to me that they'd try to shoehorn full Android Auto or CarPlay into that. I just assumed that they would have a minimal interface and let your phone do the work, and then have "next track" and "previous track" buttons and a volume knob, plus climate control and stuff,…

I own a Mazda and using Android Auto with physical controls works just fine, no idea what the OP is talking about. All the main driving features are accessible by buttons and don't need eyes off the road.

It's a massive difference in compasion to some brands that require you to use touchscreen to switch to next track or adjust AC temp.

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